Local Catholic groups reaffirm climate action

Dominican Sister Carla Kovack outside the Jane D’Aza Convent, the community’s house of formation in San Rafael. The convent, completed in 2005, is the only convent in the U.S. to have earned top level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)

August 9, 2018 Christina Gray

Eight local Catholic organizations have reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement global climate change accord by signing the Catholic Climate Declaration.

The Catholic Climate Covenant is a nonprofit formed by the U.S. bishops and other Catholic organizations in 2006 to help guide church response to the moral consequences of climate change. The declaration affirms the commitment of Catholic parishes, dioceses, schools, colleges and universities, health care organizations and religious communities to the goals of the Paris Agreement despite U.S. withdrawal in 2017.

The University of San Francisco, Daughters of Charity, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, Presentation Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, St. Raphael Parish in San Rafael, St. Teresa of Avila Parish in San Francisco and Mercy High School in San Francisco are among the more than 600 Catholic organizations nationwide that had signed the declaration as of July 28.

The commitments are in the spirit of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato si’” (“On Care for our Common Home.” The pope lamented “pollution, waste and the throwaway culture” and called for a new dialogue on what he called the rapid acceleration of changes affecting humanity, especially the poor, and the planet.

Instead of “lapsing into despair” or apathy because the scientific evidence of climate change is already so overwhelming, the encyclical provides “an Ignatian spirituality to actively engage us and give us a clear path forward,” University of San Francisco president Jesuit Father Paul Fitzgerald told Catholic San Francisco.

“Catholics have a deep spirituality about incarnation, the presence of God in people and in all of the living beings,” Father Fitzgerald said. “Our theology really gives us some advantages that we can put at the service of the commonwealth.”

He said the Jesuit university has redoubled its efforts to give all students a “sense of responsibility around climate change and the impacts that overwhelmingly affect the poor.”

New undergraduate programs have taken root, including environmental science, environmental studies and urban agriculture – the latter to educate students about corporate food systems, more equitable models of agriculture, and environmental and food justice.

Last year, the university purchased Star Route Farms in coastal Bolinas, California’s oldest organic farm. Its operations are becoming an educational field station for these programs and others.

As students’ knowledge deepens, so has their commitment to asking for change at the highest levels, Father Fitzgerald said. One student approached the university administration to ask whether its endowment fund was invested in fossil fuels or fossil fuel extraction processes such as fracking.

“So we went and looked,” he said. “Just as we don’t invest in private prisons or tobacco companies or abortion providers, we are now letting those kind of investments run out and are investing in alternative energies.”

St. Teresa of Avila Parish cut carbon emissions by more than 25 percent from 2014-17, began to generate its own energy for the priory and saved more than $8,500.

Pastor Carmelite Father Mike Greenwell credited the 2016 installation of rooftop solar power on the priory for these savings and said the parish finance council also approved the purchase of wind power for the church building.

“We have been extremely fortunate to have pastors and a deacon who are fully committed to improving the environmental performance of our parish,” said Stephen Miller, a member of the St. Teresa “green team.” “This is half the battle.”

Almost 20 years ago, the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael signed the Earth Charter, an international declaration of values and principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society.

When it came to supporting the Catholic Climate Covenant, the sisters “were all in one accord,” said Sister Carla Kovack, OP.

“As Dominicans we have always appreciated all of creation and find truth and beauty to be reflective of the divine,” Sister Carla said.

The sisters’ efforts, including hosting an environmental film series, writing letters to lawmakers and investing community funds in “green” projects, will be presented at the Global Climate Action Summit Sept. 12-14 in San Francisco as examples of tangible actions by covenant signatories.

In a message from Vatican City on the third anniversary of the encyclical, Pope Francis urged economic and religious organizations to participate in the conference to “promote the culture and practice of an integral ecology.”

The most visible sign of the San Rafael Dominicans’ commitment predates Pope Francis: The Jane D’Aza house of formation was completed in 2005 and is a model of energy-efficient design.

At the Sisters of Mercy, the Earth is one of the community’s five “critical concerns,” along with nonviolence, immigration, racism and women.

Presentation Sister Pat Davis, chair of the community’s justice committee, said retired sisters “feel the ache of not being bodily present” in advocating for God’s creation. She said many participate in “computer chair justice work,” doing outreach via email or by mail.

“Our beautiful God of abundance created all of this for us, and we are woven in to it,” she said. “It is a gift to be a part of it.”

Daughter of Charity Margaret Louise Brown, director of the community’s office of social justice and environmental advocacy in Los Altos HIlls, said she has seen much acceptance and passion among community members about changing consumer and lifestyle habits and attempting to change policy.

“You can’t really change anything on the outside until you have converted on the inside,” she said.

Faith-rooted workshops on climate change

San Francisco will host the first international climate conference organized by a U.S. state, Sept. 12-14 at Moscone Center. The Global Climate Action Summit was organized by California Gov. Jerry Brown to support the 2015 Paris Agreement from which President Trump withdrew in 2017. Visit climateactionsummit.org. Catholics are invited to Grace Cathedral to attend a series of free faith-rooted affiliated workshops led by experts the week of the summit. Visit diocal.org to register.

Speaker on parish embrace of ‘Laudato si”

The power of parishes to spread the message of Pope Francis’ encyclical will be the topic of a talk by Jesuit Father John Coleman, associate pastor of St. Ignatius Parish, at St. Anselm Parish, Ross, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. The free talk coincides with the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco Sept. 12-14.